What happens when a Milwaukee native with a rich for-profit background shifts gears to the non-profit sector? Join us as we unpack this journey with our guest, Ken Robertson, the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. From growing up under a desegregation order to embracing the city's unique pull, Ken's story is one you won't want to miss.
We delve into the inspiring work of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and its innovative ThriveOn Collaboration, which aims to drive a sense of urgency and create a lasting impact. We discuss the foundation's recent move to a historic neighborhood and how racial equity and inclusion are at the heart of this move. Ken emphasizes the importance of listening to the community and the partnerships formed with allies, such as the Medical College of Wisconsin and Royal Capital Group. This ambitious project dedicates a portion of the former Gimbel's department store to community services as requested by the community itself. Tune in to learn more about this groundbreaking work and the future goals for transforming Milwaukee.
Mentions Include:
Kenneth (Ken) Robertson
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
ThriveOn Collaboration
Medical College of Wisconsin
Royal Capital Group
Books, Podcast and Music recommendations
Classic R&B - Howard Hewitt, Say Amen
Events/Learning Opportunities
List of All upcoming conferences
Music
Thanks to Andy Eppler for our intro Music
Thanks to David Cutter Music for "Float Away
What happens when a Milwaukee native with a rich for-profit background shifts gears to the non-profit sector? Join us as we unpack this journey with our guest, Ken Robertson, the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. From growing up under a desegregation order to embracing the city's unique pull, Ken's story is one you won't want to miss.
We delve into the inspiring work of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and its innovative ThriveOn Collaboration, which aims to drive a sense of urgency and create a lasting impact. We discuss the foundation's recent move to a historic neighborhood and how racial equity and inclusion are at the heart of this move. Ken emphasizes the importance of listening to the community and the partnerships formed with allies, such as the Medical College of Wisconsin and Royal Capital Group. This ambitious project dedicates a portion of the former Gimbel's department store to community services as requested by the community itself. Tune in to learn more about this groundbreaking work and the future goals for transforming Milwaukee.
Mentions Include:
Kenneth (Ken) Robertson
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
ThriveOn Collaboration
Medical College of Wisconsin
Royal Capital Group
Books, Podcast and Music recommendations
Classic R&B - Howard Hewitt, Say Amen
Events/Learning Opportunities
List of All upcoming conferences
Music
Thanks to Andy Eppler for our intro Music
Thanks to David Cutter Music for "Float Away
Hello and welcome into Emergency F News and Information on Topics that shape the community foundation world. I'm your host, eric Wazempa. I have a really great guest today. This is an exciting project with a greater Milwaukee Foundation and I am proud to have Ken Robertson here Today. he is the Executive Vice President, chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. You've served there in leadership position since 2015. You're the Co-Chair for the Thrive-On Collaboration which we'll be talking about. It's a community-centered, place-based collaboration led by the Foundation, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Royal Capital Group. Ken, you have over 20 years of experience in both a for-profit and non-profit sectors and I have to do a hard stop there. Did you always know you wanted to go into the non-profit world?
Speaker 2:No, first of all, thanks for having me. Yeah, i didn't always think I was going to do the for-profit, the not-for-profit side. Actually, i think I started off like most being counters. You know, you're going to jump into kind of public accounting and we're going to take that partnership track and make a bunch of money. And you know, and I lasted on that track for just a year or so before I started kind of jumping around with corporate America.
Speaker 2:You know, i always do describe my career track really in two pieces. It was the for-profit side, which you know you can see from the resume, you know, a lot of diverse experiences and really a great time on the for-profit side. And then the not-for-profit side, which was a little different, quite honestly, than I thought it would be, and my story around my transition was and I was doing I was the international controller for you know a lot more manufacturer and doing a bunch of travel At the time we were doing a bunch of work in Central China and building factories and trading companies and all of that and really just losing track of my family. And you know I was looking for an opportunity to really slow things down from a career perspective and kind of reconnect with my family, who was my wife and two girls, and they were teenagers at the time. So I thought you know. I ran into this very charismatic person, jim Clark, who is now the president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America down in Atlanta.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, and Jim, you know wanted. You know what he thought was, you know, a little more disciplined, a little more structured, and he thought he could get from the for-profit side And he talked me into this role. Honestly I thought, well, you know, this is for-profit, it has to be slower than what I was used to And I think if you talk to anybody, especially anybody in finance, on the not-for-profit side, they will tell you it's the exact opposite. You know you go from. You know you go from a role where you get to specialize and you got a team of people around you to kind of being the generalist and, you know, touching a little bit of everything. For some people that's stressful. For others who really have this thirst to learn and is interested in other things outside of finance, you know it was attractive. So you know I grab hold of it, spend a little more hours kind of learning it, but I've really enjoyed my time on the not-for-profit side.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and your for-profit side experience is extensive. I mean you were talking about Brexit Straton, which I imagine was the lawnmower group or a company you were talking about, plus GE Healthcare, miller Brewing, motorola and more. Your lived experience, too, is really crucial to your kind of where your career is right now too as well. I mean, you're a Milwaukee native. Is that rare over there or is that kind of par for the course? People who are born in Milwaukee stay in Milwaukee, or you have a lot of people who stay there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i think a lot of people who stay here Milwaukee is, i'm going to say it's an inquire taste And you know, while I've had an opportunity to experience a lot of things outside of Milwaukee, it tends to pull you back. So from a foundation perspective, yeah, most of the folks that work around here were kind of raised, at least in southeastern Wisconsin. I was raised in the city, on the near north side of the city, you know, pretty depressed area, especially during the time that I was raised. Back in the 70s and early 80s I came up through public schools in Milwaukee right during the time that Milwaukee public schools was under a desegregation order or kind of a busing type of order at the time which was happening to a lot of school systems around the country. Interesting time, you know.
Speaker 2:You see this image when you think of busing Now. You see this image of all these yellow buses all over the place. Back then generally use public transportation around. So they gave you a bus pass and said figure it out, go to the other side of town. So you know the challenges that that brings. But you know I mean at the time. You know I appreciated experiencing different things So I moved. I lived on the near north side, went to school on the far south side of the city during a time where you know literally there was a physical barrier we call it the Vidoc, or bridges that you would cross through where it was. You know I want to say unspoken, but maybe more spoken than unspoken that you know this is not the neighborhood that you actually venture into. Yeah, so you know real barriers around that And I think Milwaukee right now still probably has the reputation of being one of the most segregated cities in the country.
Speaker 1:So you still have some of the scars. Obviously, as far as being segregated, i have to. I want to do a hard stop and go back and repeat that busing story. I think a lot of people would assume that it was like Oh well, there are the yellow buses, get on this bus to go to the new school that you're going to. But what you were saying is that it wasn't that simple. I mean, it sounds like as if your parents had to figure out how the heck to get you to that new school on their own, or you did yourself Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, right, so that I mean that's an important point If your parents were plugged in enough to be able to kind of help you on the logistics side, it was great. You know. Unfortunately, you know we were in kind of a. You know I didn't think of myself as poor, but we were poor And we were in the area of the country where, you know, i mean, my mom was a nurse, an LPN, and she worked shift work, so she was managing that, and my dad worked in plants and manufacturing And that was always early morning type work, so it was really up to the kids to kind of figure it out.
Speaker 2:And you know, so it was, you know, five o'clock, still dark, on the bus stop, taking the bus hour hour and 15 minutes to the if the buses were running on time to get to school, and then doing doing the opposite, trying to get back. And you know, and while you know some would argue that that helped in terms of balancing the quality of education and your exposure there, i think we, we also know that school is more than the instruction that you get in the classroom And you know, not being part of socially connected to that fabric, to the school, is limiting in a lot of in a lot of ways. So that was the challenge of our generation. No-transcript. I mean it was done for good reason, but there were consequences.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I have to say that your experience in the community has probably served you well as far as appreciating the struggles that people have that are currently going on in Milwaukee, and you've actually kind of exemplified that in your volunteer leadership roles with the Wisconsin Philanthropy Network, milwaukee Economic Development Corporation, howard Fuller Academy. You served our country in the US Air Force. Thank you very much for your service. And you are a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alumnus and holds an MBA. There comes that accounting and finance bean counter thing, i suppose, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Sheldon B Lubar School of Business. So you truly are you really truly are somebody who did well in your community given your circumstances. So I just want to commend you that.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, i've been given a lot of opportunity, so just wanted to take advantage of it, recognizing that, you know, all of us are given a lot of opportunity And I truly believe that representation matters And the more tables that I could sit at and the more I can share my perspective is just important.
Speaker 1:No, i couldn't agree more. So that's awesome. The community is fortunate to have you. So let's shift subjects a little bit here and telling me kind of what you are. You listen to so many music. Are you listening to a podcast that you love? Do you love podcasts, do you hate them? Are you watching anything? You're playing on chat GBT all day long? Do you have a secret talent? You know all those things are fair game. You know what you got going on.
Speaker 2:A lot. Unfortunately, a lot of it's connected to the work that I do up right now, but I do have an opportunity to get some downtime. You know I'm just crazy over an R&B, especially classic type of R&B. My wife sits around and watches me listen to the same songs over and over again, quite honestly. You know I've been on a Howard Hewitt lately listening to some of his earlier songs And just walking in here I just was listening to his song that was called Amen. So yeah, you know I do the music I try to play around with. You know I'll be 60 this year So I try to move around a bit.
Speaker 2:You know I wouldn't call myself a golfer but I will get out out there just to keep moving. And you know, the great thing that I can say about Milwaukee and honestly there are a lot of great things about Milwaukee is in the summer this city really comes alive. You know it's hard not to be excited about everything that's going on, especially living in a town where we basically roll up the streets in the wintertime. Once that weather comes around and those doors open, you know it's, i mean, it's just fantastic, it's wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you had to. You know you're going to have to give up that trophy that you all had with the box, so it's really kind of sad, but you know hopefully, hopefully, the. Denver Nuggets. My Nuggets will get it. We'll see.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I'm not going to let you skip past that. I will tell you that. you know we were thinking that too, as we faced Miami in the first round. So be careful, That's true.
Speaker 1:That's true. This is on the record so you can replay this, because I told Ken off the recording that I predicted the four game sweep. So everybody can come at me later and tell me if that was wrong about that. So let's see, we talked a little bit about your community, but you know, describe a little bit more about it and what you're particularly proud of.
Speaker 2:So I'm particularly proud of now are a lot of our institutions are really looking at, coming at some of the challenges of Milwaukee together and really addressing things differently.
Speaker 2:And I know we're going to get into thrive on and that place based initiative, which is a great example of thinking about things differently and really coming at things in a very focused way.
Speaker 2:You know, i just described a lot of foundations as doing very good work and you can't argue that we don't do good work from a charitable perspective. But I think, or I should say, and one of the challenges is, is that you end up spreading resources kind of like peanut butter And you know I mean, when you do that, a focused approach of moving specific levers, of specific drivers that impact where these I mean that really influence changing systems, you just don't really get to. so some of the challenges you have in education or crime or housing, they stay the same. you know you patch it but you never really get at some of these drivers. You know institutions thinking about this differently, thinking about it strategically, recognizing that you know no one's going to solve the problem kind of individually, and coming together and leveraging what they can bring to the table in true partnerships is something that I'm really proud that Milwaukee has been able to do, especially as of late.
Speaker 1:Well, and what do you attribute that to? I mean, you know, again, it sounds like a partnership with a thrive on that only some people could dream about. What do you attribute the coming together?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know they talk about having a burning platform, that to really drive a sense of urgency. I think that's what we're we were facing And you know you don't know that you can do this until you start doing it, and I think success breeds success in this space. So you look at some of the development that's happened around the city where probably 10 years ago we just would not have come at it this way and would not have thought it was possible. We were just talking about bucks and the nuggets.
Speaker 1:Everybody thinks a beer with when you think of Milwaukee, right Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, no one would have thought. you know, we could build a district downtown around around a franchise that wasn't very popular, that didn't have really any star players and certainly wasn't super successful within the NBA, and you build a venue, you build a district around it, you build real community around what's happening in that area and you see what's possible. I think that's the most honest world championship. you know, billions of dollars in economic activity that sparked by that. I think. I think seeing that and seeing that it was actually even possible in Milwaukee has sparked creative folks to sit at the table and say what's next and how do we go? how do we go deeper? And honestly, you know, how do we bring some of this success from an economic perspective to areas of our city that have not ever seen this sort of success?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And so you talked about education being a challenge, maybe economic development, any other challenges your community is facing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, i think we're probably experiencing what most metropolitan areas are. You know it is. You know our public school systems have been challenged for years. And economic development, you know, for some reason, you know, the capital doesn't find its way into our communities and we kind of list it as being risky or investment So it doesn't go there. And economic development is, you know we're right outside of Chicago And you know I mean even in Milwaukee, and you just hate to. I mean these statistics just and these stories just make you cringe. But you know it's coming back in Milwaukee And I think a short road trip over Memorial Day weekend came in and, you know, turned on the news after that and found out there was 21 shootings in Milwaukee over the weekend And I wish I could tell you and your listeners that you know that was rare for our city but it isn't And you know it's gotten far worse. In this, what I hope I can say is post COVID around the world And it's just challenging for, i think, any city.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, i hear you and I hear the pain in your voice about somebody who's who grew up there and is knows people and experienced it. And it's got to be really hard to see the violence and to try to question like, how do we, how do we solve this? but you know, coming together provides maybe that opportunity to solve some of these issues, including maybe the violence. So describe your community foundation itself. A lot of people aren't familiar with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, so how would you describe it?
Speaker 2:So we are a little less than 110 years old, wow. So you know, i think we always consider, i think it's Cleveland is kind of the the anchor, the start of this. But we came, we came along right behind them And we've grown, i would say, steadily throughout our time. You know we often describe our, our foundations, by asset size, right?
Speaker 1:so yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're about a billion one And, in total assets, probably have about 6667 employees at work and we have a good mix of funds that are our donor advise funds, or funds that are advised by donors, and funds that are controlled by the board that are focused on, you know, these initiatives that we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1:So let's talk. Speaking of that, let's talk about thrive on, so describe to the listeners what thrive on is all about.
Speaker 2:So you know, as before I jump into the nuts and bolts of it, i mean I think it's it's helpful, as I talked to this, for folks to understand why, why would you do something like this? and you know, you know the way we talk about it here in Milwaukee was really down kind of three years past. We believe that place really matters And you know, i mean it's, it's, it's interesting in Milwaukee because our neighborhoods are so distinct that it's not really distance that really makes the difference, it really is these very distinct neighborhoods. So the the thrive on initiative that I'm going to talk about is literally, literally a stone's throw away from my, my current office right now. We kind of in a corporate park right next to a river that most people associate with downtown Milwaukee and we're moving into a neighborhood literally four or five blocks away from where I am right now, that's on historic Martin Luther King Drive. That is another neighborhood, that is another city that is so different from where we are right now. So we believe being physically there will inform how we do our work as a community foundation. It's, you know, it's it's one thing to study and a talk and a survey and all the stuff that we do to try to make our work better. It's another thing to be in the neighborhood that you're trying to focus in on and experience what our neighbors are actually experiencing. So you know that was one of the main things that we talked about as a foundation is let's put our money where I'm out this and let's move into the neighborhood, experience the same challenges that the neighborhood is experiencing and work together to actually solve those challenges.
Speaker 2:You know we also believe in this is this won't come as a surprise to you, i'm sure, and all your listeners is that you know, at the heart of a lot of our issues is racial equity and inclusion, and you know it's. You know I could probably spend a whole program just talking about that, but it's, you know it's. You know it's a reason why capital doesn't get into our community. It's reason why you know there's statistics Now and this is kind of a bold statement to say people that live in the center of Milwaukee, on average, people of color live 20 years left, less than the majority around the city. So which is, i mean, just a startlingly statistic. That's that's. You know that's 20% less life than the majority experiences. So racial equity, inclusion, certainly in the heart of the equation.
Speaker 2:And then you know the other why for us was we thought we were good leaders, listeners, and we thought we knew where we should be headed from a programmatic perspective and where we should focus our investments. But authentically involving the community took us to a totally different place around it, and we describe our partnership often that the secret sauce in it is having it community led. You know, we're not bringing the Great Milwaukee Foundation's flag and planting it in the middle of the community and say, guys, rally around this flag and do what we say. We are coming in with resources that the community doesn't necessarily have access to And we're listening to what the needs of the community are And we're trying to solve some of those challenges, not the way we think they need to be solved, but the way our community believes that they need to be solved, because we believe they're the experts in that they know more than we know in this space.
Speaker 1:So, going back to that, i don't want to catch you off guard here, but it sounds like you had a preconceived notion of what the public was going to say or what way you were going to go or what direction you were going to go. Can you illuminate that a little bit more, like, what did you perceive, or what did you all perceive, you're going to be doing, other than maybe being involved in Thrive On and moving your offices to a few blocks away?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we thought, i mean, just like you said, we really thought brick and mortar, right, you know, this investment that we've made administratively, we're going to push it into the city And you know there'll be some benefit from doing that, from just having our headquarters located in the city. And we didn't. You know, we started this project really not thinking broader than that. You know, obviously it wasn't us, and I should step back a little bit and say that you know, this partnership along kind of unlikely allies, with the medical college being one of our core partners, and then Royal Capital, who is a developer of color, actually had very distinct ideas on what that meant for our community. So we came initially again thinking headquarters here. It's going to help us a little bit. We're going to be able to refocus some of our investments around it. The medical college, who still maintains a very, very large campus in the suburban parts of Milwaukee, should have some very community focused type work and they were going to bring those institutions and partner with us in this space. And we're going to wrap it all up by making this big investment in this diverse developer to bring capacity to this space in terms of development around it. And we, you know, and then we started having community listening sessions and making more investments in learning what the community actually wanted and spending more time with the community And we learned wait a minute, you know this is this is not what we want to do, this will not go deep enough And this is not, you know, and we're not coming into I don't know. Just occupy the community, occupy the space and hope that there's some catalytic economic development that will be sparked by us being in the neighborhood. So that forced us to pivot And we decided this brick and mortar, which was huge, we the development, i'm sorry, is an historic kind of renovation of this huge department store that used to be called Gimbal Shoestars.
Speaker 2:And we decided that we were going to start first with what was needed from a programmatic perspective. So scrapped our plans, decided we're going to dedicate about 50,000 square feet, which is the whole first floor of this area, to community services that the community asked for. They led with. You know, we need early childhood education, we need a center to provide support for this community. So we put a plan together, working with our partners, to come up with a plan to bring a center into this neighborhood. They wanted a community space that was actually would be conducive to community. So they weren't interested in kind of a corporate, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean you know how we do it.
Speaker 1:Exactly. I mean, i just think that I just have to pause there for a bit and just demonstrate how awesome it is that you listen to the community and you didn't just say hey, we're going to plan our flag here, the foundation offices are going to be here. That should do it right. We can call it good, you know, but you listen to the community and having the resources on the first floor how amazing It's good.
Speaker 2:I mean absolutely, absolutely, and I think you know I mean they talk about.
Speaker 2:You know trust develops very slowly And you know, unfortunately, you know institutions like ours are often viewed as outsiders. You know and and you know, if we're real honest, we're not trusted in the communities that we're actually trying to serve. So you know listening in an authentic way and then actually visibly changing your plan. So they know that you've listened and you've incorporated the plan without, you know, whitewashing your plans or changing it, that you know our business model or you know, i mean I think to courage and I will stop here and commend my president and my board for taking a chance. I'm not taking a chance on this project because and I say this a lot to developers that project like projects like this don't necessarily make sense on paper. They don't follow the template of the normal economic development project, but I believe they have the potential to far exceed anything that we actually put on paper if we execute correctly. But it takes some faith to move forward when the numbers don't actually you know the numbers don't actually connect or make sense.
Speaker 1:So it's mission work, mission work I mean, that's what the other thing too is. I can, it can help it observe that it's probably a great way for you all to kind of democratize what you do, small D meaning that you are. You are changing the dynamic of the wealth power aspect. So instead of just putting an office there and just having it all closed off to the public, generally speaking, you are opening it up to the public. You're, you're putting yourself out there too and knowing that you know full well, even though the programs and other things that are going on in the building, by going on you'll have, you'll still have some access and you're still opening yourselves up to the community a little bit more, i think.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And inviting our donors and I mean you know, you know community foundations again are, you know, kind of wealth engines and, unfortunately, the people I shouldn't say unfortunately, but it's just a fact of life that people with the wealth aren't necessarily your customers Oftentimes, And sometimes I think we get it twisted a little bit around how we serve, who we serve.
Speaker 2:You know what feedback they have because they're holding on to the wealth. But you know this. You know collaborations or partnerships like this work both ways. You not only get to expose staff to differences and help that that exposure inform how they do work. Look at work. You expose investors, funders within this space that have to interact with staff and come in our buildings and you know, to understanding what you know, what's is, what's possible when we do something like this, but to understanding what they're actually investing in and what changes the community needs to be made. You know, and we as translators And I think our staff do a good job of trying to translate the challenges to our donors, but there's nothing like firsthand experience as you walk in.
Speaker 1:And I would also imagine that some of the donors probably don't generally venture maybe to this area, so that's also going to be a good thing for them to be exposed to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. You know. I think I told you again, we're rock and roll from this area. But you know, as we're working through this early on, there was real questions around. You know, okay, you know you can have your headquarters here. You know where are we going to park or how are we going to get there, or you know it's always about parking.
Speaker 1:It's always about parking. Right, it's always about parking. Yeah, either by that, or food, catered food, or parking. Yeah, so specifics, what, what? what are you looking for? the timeline, i do want to tell listeners thrive on collaborationorg is the website, but of course you can also look at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation website too, as well, but to get the full extent of what this project is, you probably want to go to the thrive on collaborationorg site. But what, what? specifically as far as timeframes, what are you looking at like? how is this going to play out? What's what's happening then?
Speaker 2:Yes, so let me back up a little bit. Yeah, of course, maybe, maybe get to what some of the folks around here talk as the crunchy language or the structure around it. So the project itself I describe it really in four pieces. Four pieces that we're we're building right now, which is a parking structure, because parking is an issue with that city, so you got to leave with parking around it. A community space which is roughly 50,000 square feet, which will house an early childhood education center.
Speaker 2:The community space itself, healthy food initiative I don't know if your listeners are familiar with versity used to be the blood center of their their partnering with us for some programmatic type space, educational type space We're doing. We're in a partnership with MKE, job works, which is a workforce development initiative that will also have offices there. We're going to have wellness wellness space there as well. So that's kind of the second element of it. We will. The headquarters of GMF will be located there.
Speaker 2:Mcw is probably going to MCW, which is a medical college in Wisconsin. We'll have about twice the administrative space that GMF will have for some of their community facing type initiatives. And then we're actually building a mixed income housing area right in the project. So it's going to be roughly 90 units. The first floor of the mixed income housing will be focused on and this is a new term that I got familiar with will be focused on the wiser community. So 55 plus will be the focus of that housing initiative and then there'll be some aspects of the housing that will be dedicated to students from medical college, that they'll be able to stay there and experience the city and provide support there as well, as we're working in an initiative to provide some housing for some of the lower income workers within the development, in particular on the early childhood education front, to provide direct housing for them.
Speaker 1:And I presume Wiser Community refers to it's a kinder way to say elders or seniors. Is that what you're referring to? That's correct. So the Gen Z group is just going to come at me though, at this podcast and say are there only Wiser if you're 55 and older?
Speaker 2:But anyway, That's correct too, yeah.
Speaker 1:So again, i mean I just look at the scope of this project. I mean housing, early childhood education, health and wellness, economic opportunity, localhesion. I mean gosh, wow, amazing.
Speaker 2:It's huge. It's huge for the foundation. It's about. You know. It's a little bit more than $100 million will be the total project cost. In terms of timeline, we expect that the administrative our administrative offices will occupy or, by the first quarter of next year, will complete the first floor pieces, probably by the second quarter of next year, and then the housing component will come in the subsequent two second quarters, so that'll lag. The community space and the administrative space will be the last phase of the project.
Speaker 1:So, finally, i want to get you out on this. You've been really gracious with your time, but what do you hope? What if you look five, 10 years, 20 years down the road? What's your hope for this project?
Speaker 2:We hope, just like with the Deer District and some of the other projects, initiatives that's happening in Milwaukee, that this will inspire others to dream big and to move past their standard, formulaic way of evaluating projects to think about vision and aspiration and true outcomes. So you know, we spend a lot of time on documenting, wanting to create breadcrumbs so that others can follow and replicate. You know, all communities are different, so there's no cookie cutter way of getting to this, but there are some themes, some threads that you can follow to make the work easier. And that's what our hope is, is that you know this gets, we get to replicate this, it becomes easier and it becomes more common for not just Milwaukee but communities outside of Milwaukee, metropolitan areas outside of Milwaukee.
Speaker 1:Well, I know I speak for the listeners when we wish you well in this endeavor. It really is truly an amazing thing and can just my greatest appreciation for you joining me on the podcast today. So thank you so much and have a great weekend.
Speaker 2:Wonderful You too, go nuggets. Can I say that?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, i don't know if you should if you're in Milwaukee You probably shouldn't say that, but you probably should have said watch out for Jimmy Butler. But anyway, have a wonderful weekend. Can appreciate you being on. Thanks for having me. All right And truly, this is the first collaboration of its kind, nation of partnership with private medical college, community foundation and a leading innovator in urban development, all sharing the same vision and mission.
Speaker 1:Pretty amazing stuff. A couple of things. I do want to pivot to some news here real quick, but first I do want to thank just everybody who who helped get Ken back on or get on the show too as well. Everybody was really helpful at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation to help get him on so we could talk about that project. One thing that came through on the Council of Foundations today actually is a workforce development through post graduation scholarships act was introduced on Capitol Hill And this would amend the tax go to treat post graduation scholarship grants as a charitable activity, enabling community foundations to award post graduation scholarships to recent graduates with student debt. In exchange, these individuals would live and work in the area of need of their skills. Council strongly supports this legislation and I have to say personally this is a pretty cool idea And so if you want to learn more about that, that is the workforce development through post graduation scholarships act, so you can certainly Google that or go to the council, cforg, if you have more information or need more information about that.
Speaker 1:The Council of Foundations conference is coming very soon. The emergency F team plans to host an informal podcast with the conference, will post during the conference. Just kidding, there is no team, it is I and but I will hope to find and track down some other colleagues to maybe share their impressions of the conference and how they thought it went and any ideas they have on either guests or ideas for the podcast. Speaking of that, you can reach out to us at emergencyfcom at any time and provide some feedback or any information about guests. Find us wherever you find your podcast content and follow us. Subscribe and get one of these each week in your lovely podcast provider. Thanks to Andy Epler and David Cutter for our music. Have a great week. Attention, please. Our next podcast has beginning Economic.